


In Our Bed

by Unclesteeb



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 5+1 Things, Every bed sharing trope known to man, Falling In Love, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 13:47:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7535110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unclesteeb/pseuds/Unclesteeb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 times Bucky came into Sam's bed and one time the bed belonged to both of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Our Bed

**Author's Note:**

> Because there aren't nearly enough stories with Bucky and Sam sharing a bed.

1.  
“Sam!”

Sam hears Riley cry out for him. He spins himself around mid-air and dives.

“Sam!”

“I got you!”

He descends quickly, hand outstretched to catch his friend. The winds whistling in his ears and the quick descent makes them want to pop. He can smell and see smoke around him. He's losing Riley in it.

“Come on, come on!” He begs. There's no way he is this high up. He should have reached both Riley and the ground seconds ago. He keeps his hand outstretched. He can hear Riley yelling for him. He can-

“Wilson!”

Sam opens his eyes with a gasp. He sees Barnes hovering over him and feels a spike of anger shoot through him.

“I was going to catch him!” His breath is ragged and coming out quickly. “I almost had him!” 

The hard lines of Bucky’s eyebrows soften and his face crumples up. “I'm sorry.” He says. He looks sincere, actually sorry that he woke Sam up and that makes Sam even more angry.

His whole body is shaking from his dream, he can't breathe right and angry tears start pouring out of the corners of his eyes before he can stop them.

“Hey. You're gonna make yourself pass out like that.” Barnes tells him, and then he's climbing into Sam’s bed like he belongs there, placing his warm flesh hand on Sam’s back. With the gentle touch Sam feels the anger drain out of him and it's replaced with half-confusion, half-pure retched heartbreak from losing Riley all over again in his dream. Sam looks over to him. He picks up one of Sam’s hands and places it on his chest. “Like this,” He takes a deep breath through his nose and slowly lets it out of his mouth. “Copy me.”

Sam tries, his breath hitches a few times on both the inhale and exhale. 

Barnes gives him a soft smile, a Bucky Barnes smile. “Good” he says soothingly and by the third breath Sam’s breathing has evened out a little. He starts to come back to himself. Bucky’s rubbing calming circles into the small of his back. He continues to breathe deeply in time with Sam. Sam gets the distinct feeling that he’s getting the same exact treatment a young Steven G. Rogers would have gotten after an asthma attack.

Sam takes a final exhale and gently scoots himself away from Barnes. “I didn't mean to wake you.” It's their third night sharing a hotel room. Bucky’s trigger words were recently decommissioned in Wakanda and Sam was the one who was asked to go get him and bring him to the safe house Steve’s found them in Oregon. T’challa had them flown to the States and the rest was on them. Road travel is the easiest way for them to reach where they're going. They're not taking their time, Sam’s trying to spend the least amount of time one-on-one with Barnes as possible. He doesn't exactly like the guy. The sooner they reach the safe house, the better. All that said, Sam really didn't mean to wake him up, especially with a nightmare. 

“It's okay. I wasn't asleep anyway.” Barnes tells him gently. Sam lets his gruff voice wash over him. Barnes always seems to have this calm, calculated way about him. It shocked Sam at first, how peaceful he seemed. He’s spent most of their time together in silence, only speaking when absolutely necessary. It hasn't bothered Sam a bit. He hasn't been very enthusiastic about spending time with the guy, so small talk isn't an idea that's excited him.

They sit in silence for a while. Barnes has yet to remove his hand from the small of Sam’s back. It's a comforting and warm touch, such a stark difference from all of the other times the two of them have touched each other. Granted, every other time Barnes has been either brainwashed or under mind control but it still strikes Sam as odd. 

“You good?” Barnes asks him, pulling Sam out of his thoughts. 

“Ye-yeah,” He gets out. Bucky removes his hand from the small of Sam’s back, taking the warmth with him. Sam’s not sure if it's a relief.

Bucky gets out of Sam’s bed and gets into his own. Sam lies back down and stares at the ceiling for a minute before saying, “Thank you.” 

He's not surprised when he doesn't get a reply.

 

2.  
Sam gets a call when they're so close to Steve’s safe house that they could spit on it.

“You guys gotta ditch the car.” Steve sounds frantic on the line.

“Why?” Sam asks. Barnes’ driving the last leg of the trip. Sam can see him tense when Barnes hears his tone.

“Nat called. Somebody recognized you, said you were driving with an unidentified brown-haired male. Called it in to Ross. Nat found you guys somewhere to hide out until I can come get you. I'm sending you the location now.” 

The line goes dead and before Sam put the phone down, it's beeping again with coordinates to Natasha’s hide out.

Bucky’s body is a thick line of tension when Sam looks over. He can hear Bucky’s metal arm whirring quietly as he grips the steering wheel.

“We have to get rid of the car. I've been made.” Sam tells him. Barnes let's out a breath through his nose and bites his bottom lip. 

“Steve found us somewhere to hide?” He asks. His eyes are scanning their area, already searching for another car to steal (Barnes isn't Steve. Steve would tell Sam, “We’re just borrowing it.” Bucky full well knows that they're taking a car and never giving it back). 

“Yeah. Got the coordinates.” Sam says. 

Bucky nods and suddenly, it's on. Sam’s only worked with Bucky once before, during the airport fight. He'd been impressed then, at Barnes’ abilities and he was impressed now: as Bucky finds them a little hidden spot to ditch their practical American sedan, opens the hood and rips a hose out of its place to simulate the car breaking down. “Wait here,” He tells Sam gruffly over the loud hiss of air from the car before he stalks off, presumably to find a replacement car. 

Sam’s about to start literally twiddling his thumbs when Barnes pulls, well more like screeches up. He's in a classic red Mustang. Sam rolls his eyes and asks, “Really?”

Barnes smiles, then shrugs. “It's a lot different than what we had.” 

Sam gets in the car begrudgingly. Bucky’s not wrong. 

Barnes revs the engine a few times. “Better buckle up!”

They arrive at the hideout quickly and without any trails. They both enter the small shack-looking building with their guns drawn, they both trust Natasha but you can't ever be too trusting in the business of running from the government. Barnes is leading the way into the building. Sam sees him take a couple of steps inside then stop abruptly.

“What is it?” Sam asks quietly, expecting the answer to be a dead body or something else horrific.

Barnes clears his throat then says, “There's only one bed.” Sam breathes a sigh of relief and takes a few steps forward so that he can see too. The shack is small; composed of only one room. It's dark- only lit by the small cracks in the boarded up windows. The floors and walls are composed from the same dark, partially-rotting wood. The floor is scattered with crumpled and faded papers and in the center of the room is a shady looking mattress covered by a mostly-clean white sheet. It smells stale and musty. Sam’s not impressed.

“There's literally one bed. Nothing else.”

Barnes lowers his gun and strides over to the closest piece of crumpled paper. “Not true! There's also a Bradley Jones’ pay stub from 2013.” He waves the piece of paper around and smirks at Sam before reading it again. “Huh. SHIELD took out a lot of money for benefits.”

Sam pockets his gun. “Well what else do you expect from a corrupt government agency? Well, we’re here until further notice from our Captain, so we might as well decide now. Who’s sleeping in the bed?”

Sam’s excepting Barnes to put up a fight; to claim the bed first even though he barely sleeps anyway just to spite Sam. He doesn't. He says, “You take it. I'll sleep on the floor.” He's all earnestness and big blue eyes when he says it and it makes Sam want to take back every bad thought he'd ever had about the guy.

“No man, it's yours. I've slept on grosser things than this floor. I can handle it.” The last bit of light that this day will provide them is fading quickly, shining reds and oranges through the boarded up windows.

Bucky makes a noise that sounds like it wants to become a laugh. “Seriously? Just take the damn bed, Wilson.” Then he flops down rather grumpily on the ground and starts gathering up the crumpled papers that surround him. 

Sam doesn't say anything back, just takes a deep, steading breath and plops himself down on the bed and wills himself to rest. Lord knows when Steve will be able to get to them. 

Sam is awoken several hours later to shallow breathing close to his ear. He tenses and since he can't see anything in the dark room he doesn't move. 

“Barnes?” He asks tentatively into the darkness. He's a little afraid someone’s managed to find them and take Bucky without him waking up, he's also a little afraid that Bucky’s managed to get into full on Winter Soldier mode and is waiting until Sam woke to kill him.

The shallow breaths continue for a moment before the mattress creaks and groans with added weight. Beside him, Barnes says, “I tried to kill you.”

The fear coiled tightly in Sam’s body loosens and with the adrenalin rush quickly gone, so is Sam’s desire to be awake. “You did,” He confirms quietly. Bucky’s obviously troubled by what he did to Sam, but Sam isn't going to sugarcoat it. He did try to kill Sam, multiple times.

“I'm sorry.” He croaks. Something that’s surprised Sam from the first time him and Barnes spoke was the gentleness of Barnes’ voice. It's quiet, raspy and out of practice. There's been times since the two of them have been traveling together where Bucky’s said something so quietly that Sam’s had to ask him to repeat himself. His gentle voice creates such a different picture than the murder machine assassin that Sam first associated Bucky with.

“It's okay.” He tells Barnes, because he's not sure what else to say. “You didn't do a very good job at it.” 

Bucky clicks his tongue. “I'm glad I didn't.” 

“Yeah, well, me too.” Sam’s so ready to go back to sleep. He can feel Bucky’s tense muscles sitting on the bed beside him. He feels generally bad for Bucky then, having to remember all of a sudden that you killed the guy you've been traveling with. Your best friend’s best friend. “You tired?” He asks rather than trying to offer another comfort. 

Bucky’s silent for a minute, like he's really thinking about whether he's tired or not before he says, “Yeah.”

Sam doesn't know why he does it, maybe it's pity or guilt or his own damn loneliness because in this minute in time he's tired and in a stinky safe house and he'd just give about anything to go home to his momma and snuggle up to her on the couch but he scoots over and tells Bucky, “Lie down. We can share.”

Bucky doesn't move at first and Sam is just starting to wonder if he somehow managed to offend the guy when he finally hears Bucky slide his boots off and lay himself down next to Sam. The bed isn't big enough for them to have any space, so their bodies are touching side by side. 

“Get some sleep, Barnes.” Sam commands before rolling on his side and closing his eyes. 

When he wakes up in the morning, Bucky’s got him wrapped up in his arms. Sam takes a moment to enjoy Bucky’s warm, sleepy embrace this morning and the next one and the one after that too. 

3.

There's a moment at their permanent safe house in Oregon during dinner where Steve looks like he's going to either cry or burst. Sam figures it's a passing thing; like stifling tears at Peggy Carter’s funeral or flashes of hurt behind his eyes after Tony had told Steve about the accords, but it isn't. The moment grows and grows and suddenly Steve’s chair screeches as it's being pushed back and he's throwing his arms around Bucky’s neck. Bucky coughs a little, having just taken a bite of his sandwich before he twists in his chair and hugs Steve back the best he can. 

“Damn, Stevie. What's gotten into you?” Bucky asks him. 

Steve sniffles for a second, “I'm just really happy you guys are here, that's all.” 

Bucky smiles and looks over to Sam. “Yeah, me too.” 

Sam’s replaying the moment as he rests in his bed later that night. It's a nice bed- a full sized one with clean, fresh sheets. His room is nice too. It has two windows that overlook lots of trees and rich hardwood floors that are relatively unscratched. It's painted a soft off-white color that makes Sam think of the rental apartments he had when he was younger. It smells homey and sweet, like the apple cinnamon candle Steve must have put on his dresser. There's a single lamp on a bedside table that Sam has switched on so that he can read his book. He's reading Pride and Prejudice, because it was on the bookshelf that somebody (maybe Steve) had stocked. He isn't giving it the attention it deserves (Sam’s not exactly sure it deserves any of his attention, so he doesn't feel guilty about ignoring it) when there's a knock on the door. 

Bucky pokes his head in. “Hey.” He gives Sam a little smile and strides on into the room wearing a cozy pair of sweatpants and a white shirt.

“Hi.” Sam replies, folding up his book without saving his page marker and setting it on the table.

“So, uh,” Bucky runs a hand through his hair. It looks damp like he just got out of the shower, “I can't sleep.”

“Oh.” Sam says, since he's not sure what he's supposed to say when an ex-assassin comes into his room and says he can't sleep.

“I slept the past couple of nights though.” The _with you_ is heavily implied. 

As much as Sam doesn't want to admit it, he's slept better too with Bucky there, so he scoots himself closer to the wall and tells Bucky, “So get in.” 

Bucky does and it's just as much of a squeeze as it was in their little hideout but it's been a few nights that they've slept together now, so Bucky turns to face Sam and grins when he's settled in close. It makes Sam laugh. 

“Look at you, you got what you wanted and now you're grinning like the little shit you are.”

Bucky’s grin stretches across his entire face, making his eyes crinkle up at the sides and his nose scrunch. He looks so much younger now, lying on his side with his head resting on his elbow looking at Sam like he's the best thing in the world. It makes Sam’s breath catch in his throat. He hasn't realized until now how beautiful Bucky Barnes really is. His light blue eyes are shining in the warm light from the lamp. He's shaved today too. Sam says something about it.

“Of course I did. I'm not homeless anymore, so I gotta start lookin good.” It hits Sam straight in his chest. This isn't just a safe house to hide in for Bucky, this is his home. The first one he's had since the 1940s with Steve. This is his home, here in the middle of Oregon, surrounded by trees, his best friend, and him snuggled up cozy safe in Sam’s bed. Sam can't help it, he reaches out and pulls Bucky closer to him. Bucky hums in approval and burrows his head in Sam’s neck. 

“You do look okay, I guess.” Sam tells him, because the gravity of the moment they just had is too much for him to verbalize. 

Bucky’s lips ghost Sam’s neck, a quick little kiss that both of them will deny ever happened. He wraps his metal arm around Sam’s middle and says, “I know.”

4.

It becomes a habit then, sleeping with Bucky. Every night Sam will head to bed first and either try to work through a book or recently, play on the phone that Natasha brought him (it's both secure and world’s better than the throwaway phone Steve had been contacting him on) until Bucky’s ready for bed and joins him. Steve doesn't know, or pretends not to. Sam doesn't blame him if he's ignoring it, the weirdness of the fact that he cuddles up with The Winter Soldier at night doesn't escape Sam either. 

It's been a few weeks now and Sam hates to say it, but he might be developing a little, minuscule, barely-there crush on Bucky. There's something about him now that he's settled into himself a bit and feels safe. He's a giant asshole but he's fun. Sam’s grown to love his little quirks. Bucky is a bit of a neat freak, always cleaning up after Sam and Steve (mostly Steve) and doing all the household chores by himself. He hums to himself while he's doing it too, either a song that he's recently remembered from his youth or some dumb top 40 hit on the radio. He's also taken to following Sam around the house like a lost puppy. He’ll perch himself on the counter while Sam’s making dinner, or squeeze his giant body next to Sam’s on the couch while Sam’s watching tv. He will flop on Sam’s bed while Sam’s folding his laundry and tell him weird facts like, “Hey Sam, did you know that there's an entire section of Steve’s fan base that likes him better before the serum?” Or “Hey Sam, did you know that Emperor Penguins are four feet tall?” But tonight it's “Hey Sam, did I ever tell you about the guy I used to make time with back in the day?”

Sam stops folding his shirt and flits his eyes up to Bucky. He's staring at the ceiling with his legs crossed at his ankles and his arms folded behind his head like he just didn't make a revelation about his sexuality. 

“Made time with?”

“Yeah.” Bucky leans up on his elbows. “We used to meet behind this one diner in Bushwick. I don't even remember how we got to doing what we did, but we used to take a pair of girls out dancing then walk them home like real gentlemen. Then we'd head around to that diner because there weren't any houses or anything back there and get each other off.”

Sam’s not sure what he's supposed to say. He finds that he's in that spot a lot lately when it comes to Bucky. He's saved because Bucky continues. 

“I remembered him today. His name was James too. Went by Jim.” He scrunches his face up. “Weird, huh?”

“Bucky, the weirdest part about that story is that you were banging a guy with the same name as you.”

Bucky laughs. “Now it is. Back then, not so much.”

Sam doesn't really want to get caught in a possible spiral of internalized homophobia, so he puts away the shirt in his hand and turns off the main light of the room before padding over to the bedside and flicking on the little lamp. Bucky moves over to make room for him in the bed, he settles in then reaches over to the bedside table to retrieve his book. It's the Catcher in the Rye this time, it's absolutely dreadful. “Hey.” He waves the book in his hand. “Wanna hear about this entitled whiny shit I'm reading about?”

Bucky smiles and rolls over to face Sam. “Nope.” He pops the p sharply. 

“Well what do you wanna do then?” Sam asks. Bucky’s looking at him intensely and it's making his mouth go dry. He swallows around the feeling. 

“Can I kiss you?” Bucky questions. His voice is quiet and raspy like it was when Sam first met up with him months ago. Sam’s heart is beating wildly in his chest. He swallows again and reaches a hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind Bucky’s ear that's draped across his nose. Bucky licks his lips tentatively. 

“Please do.” Sam says, and he hadn't realized it until he said it how badly he wanted Bucky’s lips on his. Bucky squirms until their bodies are flush and gently cups Sam’s face with his right hand. He offers Sam a quick, nervous smile before closing the distance between the two of them. His lips are soft and sweet on Sam’s, testing, before he pulls back.

“You kiss even worse than Steve.” Sam says before he cups the back of Bucky’s head and pulls him in again. It's a deeper kiss this time, Sam opens Bucky’s mouth with little licks of his tongue and Bucky makes a pleased noise in the back of his throat that goes right to Sam’s chest or gut or maybe something lower. He feels so right, licking into Bucky’s mouth. Bucky grips his hip and sucks gently on Sam’s tongue and Sam can just imagine it; a young Bucky Barnes in 1940s Brooklyn, kissing a buy behind a restaurant because they couldn't kiss anywhere else. Sam never thought he'd think this, but he's so happy Bucky’s here with him now.

Bucky lets go of his lips and says, “You're really amazing, Sam. You know that? I'm really lucky to have you.” He looks a little like he wants to cry and if he cries then Sam’s definitely going to cry and that's not okay so Sam kisses him again, sweet, then tucks that runaway strand of hair behind his ear again. He tells Bucky softly, “You are.”

5.

Sam’s not sure when, in fact, he started dating Bucky Barnes but he thinks he is. It's been eight months now since he and Bucky arrived at the safe house. Every night Bucky still makes his way into Sam’s bed to sleep. They've been doing a lot of kissing and some jerking each other off but that's not even the best part. They've been doing so much laughing and smiling. Sam’s goddamn happy. 

Today they disguised-up and went into town. They went to the grocery store first then stopped off to get ice cream afterwards. Bucky paid for the both of them with money he probably stole from Steve. They held hands while they walked to the car, then came home and unpacked all the groceries. Sam cooked Steve and Bucky dinner (he still doesn't trust them to cook anything that doesn't taste like rubber) and the three of them had watched a movie before retiring to bed. Bucky doesn't even pretend to sleep in his own room any more. Steve hasn't said a word about it, but a month ago he did give Sam a big hug and say “Good job” while Sam was cooking eggs and although they were delicious Sam’s pretty sure the eggs didn't warrant that kind of reaction. 

Bucky’s got Sam being the little spoon currently. Sam’s eyes are closed and Bucky’s warm around him. 

Bucky breaks the silence and asks, “Do you wanna have sex?” 

Sam feels his cheeks go hot. He does, but there's not exactly a rule book on “how to properly date a 100 year old ex-brainwashed assassin” so he hasn't brought it up. Sam’s been perfectly happy with what Bucky’s given him thus far. So he turns the question back on his boyfriend (maybe boyfriend). “Do you?”

He feels Bucky’s warm breath tickling the hairs on the back of his neck. “Yup.”

It's such a Bucky answer that Sam starts laughing. Bucky feigns offense “What? Am I that repulsive? I use deodorant every day.”

“Yeah, now you do.” Sam tells him. “All because of my good influence.”

He can feel Bucky’s smile. “Yeah, yeah. So are we gonna fuck or what?” That just sets Sam off again.

Bucky pushes at his shoulders and Sam spins to face him, still laughing. “I'm trying to be serious here!”

Sam kisses him, once, twice. “Yes. Let's have sex.” 

Bucky rolls his eyes. “Well now I don't even wanna-” Sam interrupts him by cupping his dick through his pants and lifting an eyebrow. “On second thought,” he gets out before he leans in to kiss Sam.

It's hot instantly, full of teeth and tongue with an underlying feeling of affection. Sam can feel everything Bucky’s trying to say.

“Thank you.”  
“I am who I am because of you.”  
“You saved me.”  
“I care about you.”  
“I'd do anything for you”  
“I love you.”

Sam breaks the kiss and looks Bucky right in his pretty eyes. “I love you too.”

Bucky takes a big breath and just holds Sam’s gaze. Sam doesn't wonder if he was wrong in his assumption. He knows Bucky loves him. He felt it.

“Good.” Bucky manages before they're kissing again and again and again. All night. Being a super-soldier just isn't good for fighting.

+1

It's years later, after an intergalactic battle for the universe, after the accords were repealed, after a tearful reunion with Sam and his family and an almost as tearful introduction of Bucky, after Steve finally hung up the shield and decided to take care of himself, after Sam had picked the shield right back up on Bucky and Steve’s insistence, after all that.

Bucky’s just finished changing the sheets on their bed. They live in a brownstone in Brooklyn, close to where Bucky and Steve grew up. They have two cats, named Alice and Matilda (Bucky named them). 

Alice is curled up in the chair next to Sam’s dresser. When she sees that Bucky’s done making the bed she leaps out of the chair and onto the comforter. She walks around in a circle a few times before settling herself down. Bucky gives her ears a little scratch as he covers himself up.

Sam takes off his shirt and winces. 

“Oh man, Cap.” Bucky lets out a low whistle. "That's a nasty bruise you got there."

There had been a little battle in New Jersey today. Sam and the rest of the Avengers got called out to help thwart some evil genius with a ray gun and a shitty plan to blow up Newark, Sam was half-tempted to let the guy win. 

Bucky had gotten to stay home and play with the cats all day. He still gets called in sometimes, but only when they really need him now. Sam’s never been more proud of Bucky than when he decided he'd be a “worst case scenario” Avenger only. He's done so much, lost so much already that having to go out and fight all the time was doing more harm to him than good to anyone else. 

Sam shrugs, then winces again. “I'll be good in a few days.” He decides the pain of putting on a shirt to sleep in isn't worth it and kicks off his pants before sliding into bed next to Bucky and Alice.

Bucky pulls him close gently and gives him a little kiss. 

“I love you, so much.” He tells Sam. He sounds so earnest and awed. Sam looks him in the eyes. He's teary. 

“Damn, Buck. It's just a bruise.” 

Bucky laughs and a tear rolls down his cheek. Sam swipes it away. 

“I know. I just-” he stops and takes a breath, “I just wanted to know something.”

“What?” Sam asks, tucking a strand of hair behind Bucky’s ear like he's done thousands and thousands of times now. 

Bucky leans up and over him and opens the bedside drawer. He gets out a little black box that Sam has never seen before. He settles back into Sam’s arms and looks up at him with a big, shit-eating grin.

“Will you marry me?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. :)
> 
> Follow me on [ tumblr ](unclesteeb.tumblr.com) and come talk to me about Sam Wilson.


End file.
